Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
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Thursday, September 2, 2010

A Flutter....A Blizzard


The Baron and I were driving along a track on our way to one of my favorite hiking/birding trails. To the right was a prairie, to the left a long line of shrubs and scrub trees. The flutter of monarch butterflies coming off the shrubs quickly became evident. The flutter soon began to look like a blizzard of orange & black for the next quarter of a mile.
I fumbled to get my little cheapo camera out of my pocket. I like the camera because it does fit in my pocket, while the binocs dangle from my neck. The following pics thru the windshield doesn't come close to doing justice to what I actually saw....but you get the idea.


Like many of our migrating birds, the monarchs gather in the fall for an epic journery. My friend, Mr Science (Gary) gives the following succinct explantion.

MONARCHS PRODUCE FOUR GENERATIONS EACH YEAR. THREE OF THESE GENERATIONS ONLY LIVE ABOUT ONE MONTH EACH, BUT ONE GENERATION(THE 4TH GENERATION) LIVES FOR ABOUT 8 MONTHS AND THAT IS THE GENERATION THAT EACH FALL MAKES A 1400+ MILE MIGRATION TO MEXICO. THIS FOURTH GENERATION WILL MIGRATE TO MEXICO, OVERWINTER THERE, LAY EGGS IN MEXICO AND THEN DIE. THOSE EGGS WILL HATCH MAKING A NEW 1ST GENERATION THE WILL MIGRATE AS FAR AS ABOUT N. TEXAS-LAY THIER EGGS AND DIE. THE NEXT TWO GENERATION WILL REPEAT THIS CYCLE AND HEAD FARTHER NORTH EACH TIME. THE 4TH GENERATION IS BORN UP NORTH AND IS THE ONLY GENERATION TO MIGRATE TO MEXICO IN THE FALL.

His notebook "Nature Notes" on the flora and fauna of Fillmore County, Minnesota can be found at

http://fillmorenature.blogspot.com/

14 comments:

  1. I have never seen as many monarchs as I have this year. My favorite color is orange. I just love them. I never know that about the 4th generation.

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  2. This would really be something to see! Thanks for capturing photos to share with us.

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  3. Awesome! My husband once encountered a massive flock of them while crossing the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway on his way to work.
    BTW, to truly understand the magnificence of the monarch's migration, find a way to see this. (You might be able to get it through your local library. A MUST watch!)

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  4. How interesting! I'm so happy you got to see this wondrous sight!

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  5. Wow--heard about this & saw a TV film, but to see it in person--awesome!

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  6. Love this post! Great information and pics.

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  7. This is always an awesome sight Ray. We have one species here which migrates too and I love to see them.

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  8. Amazing journey. I was fortunate to see many Monarchs during a late fall trip to Cape May some years ago. FAB.

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  9. That is so amazing! I can only imagine what a sight that was to behold.... the sky full of Monarchs. :c)

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  10. I've always been fascinated by the life cycle of the Monarchs. What a treat to have found yourself in the midst of their migration. None of the three primary paths pass through our area so we never see them in great numbers. Thanks for sharing your amazing sight.

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  11. A wild milkweed plant started growing just outside out back door and I let it keep on growing, as I know Monarchs like to lay their eggs on it. Time will tell if they liked my milkweed plant outside the back door. :)

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  12. That's cool! I'm glad you got to witness all those monarchs.

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  13. Although I knew about Monarchs migrating to Mexico, I didn't know about the 4 generations. Very interesting.

    Many more Monarchs than normal around here this year. Just yesterday there were 6 of them fluttering around like leaves in the area where I have a lot of Autumn Joy Sedum growing.

    Fabulous photos.

    donna

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  14. Thanks for the comments on my monarch photos! Do you get Kare11 news out of the Twin Cities? On Sunday night they had a report that a large part of forest (which is a quite small area) where they overwinter in Mexico is being forested so it is estimated that MN's monarch population will really dwindle in upcoming years. I sure hope not!

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